Posted by
Steve Smith on
Nov 01, 2013; 4:37pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Message-from-Moscow-tp7584171p7584175.html
The whole thing (Snowden's disclosures and the fallout from it) is
riddled with half-truths and misplaced strong rhetoric... I mean the
whole situation, not just Snowden's statements... his are perhaps the
*least* egregious but egregious nonetheless.
He tries to paint his patently *illegal acts* (disclosing classified
information) as "political speech". I am very sympathetic with his
motives and grant him the moral right/unction to do what he did, but not
because doing so was not technically illegal. What he did was
technically illegal. In fact, that is what makes it so powerful... he
may have done "the very right thing" against the rule of law and with
the threat of dire consequences. It is up to those who the law
represents (we the citizens of the US) to respond by fitting his acts
into the framework of our collective morality as well as our laws. The
challenge is either how to *pardon* his illegal acts based on their
presumed "greater good" or to find a way to change the laws so that
there *is* a way for him to have "done the right thing" without breaking
the law and bringing down the wrath of the US Security apparatus.
On the other side, (roughly the "side" presented by officials of the US
gov't right up to President Obama) the rhetoric is unforgiving. It does
not acknowledge even the possibility that Snowden's "outside the law"
acts were anything but traitorous cowardy. I think to most, this is
patently not true. While the allegations that Snowden might have acted
from egotistical and naive motives, I don't think many really can
believe that he was honestly trying to harm the US citizenry. Quite the
opposite, even if he might have been misguided (and I don't concede he
was), he was *trying* to help the US citizenry, specifically against
rogue behaviour by our government.
I am thankful that the world leaders, the world population including
much of the US, have stood up in shock and outrage in response to the
revelations, no matter how they came about. While it may be obvious
that any security/intelligence apparatus *wants* total information
awareness about everyone, friend or foe, and that it is natural for them
to believe that they can do their jobs more effectively, it is NOT
obvious that the tradeoff is worth it. It is also not obvious in the
least that just because such organizations want and seek that kind of
power, that they are granted that level of power by our laws. Even the
Patriot Act and FISA didn't expand their powers that entirely and it
seems clear to me that the public debate *will* lead to severe
curtailment even of those laws and possibly others which may represent
"loopholes" in privacy.
I'm glad Snowden did what he did, roughly the way he did it. I may be
proven wrong, but he is likely to go down as a martyr if not a hero and
the US and the world will likely be a better place for his actions. He
may have to suffer for his actions, but that is the definition of "hope"
that I subscribe to: "doing the right thing, whether you think it will
turn out well or not".
>> A high ranking German politician has spoken with Edward Snowden in
>> Moscow. Here is the letter he brought back:
>>
http://www.spiegel.de/media/media-32616.pdf>
> "I am confident that with the support of the international community,
> the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behavior."
>
> This is one of: rhetorical, hopelessly optimistic, or disingenuous ...
> or perhaps some combination of the three. I got this in the mail this
> morning:
>
> Secretary of State Kerry: Reinstate Edward Snowden’s passport!
>
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8711>
> But I'm having trouble imagining that he'll ever get his passport back
> or be treated as anything other than a traitor here.
>
>
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